The movie 'Selma' has been criticized by some observers for its portrayal of the contributions of President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to civil rights and his relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo).

The movie 'Selma' has been criticized by some observers for its portrayal of the contributions of President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to civil rights and his relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo). (Atsushi Nishijima, Controbuted PHoto)

Brittney Cooper's recent article in the fashionable leftist online magazine, Salon, excoriated New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd for her column criticizing the movie "Selma."

According to Cooper, Dowd's primary offense was her alleged cultural bias against African-Americans. A dozen years ago, when Hillary Clinton and other liberals had thrown in the towel with respect to opposing President George W. Bush's Iraq invasion, Dowd stood up and kept fighting the good fight. She consistently opposed Bush and his policies. Her liberal bona fides are impeccable.

However, even a liberal icon like her now finds herself roasted at the stake of political correctness. Dowd called out "Selma" director Ava DuVernay, who is African-American, for misrepresenting in the movie President Lyndon Johnson's level of support of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Perhaps DuVernay should have done some fact-checking on the Voting Rights Act. John F. Kennedy was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963, which elevated Johnson to the presidency. Johnson had been president for 16 months when, on March 17, 1965, his two close friends, Sens. Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen, co-sponsored the Voting Rights Act. Johnson signed the bill into law on Aug. 6, 1965. Obviously, Johnson backed the law and got it passed.

Dowd's column refers to DuVernay's comments to Rolling Stone about her dissatisfaction with the original "Selma" script. DuVernay chose to water down the strength of the working relationship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Johnson because, in DuVernay's words, she was not interested in doing a "white hero" movie like "Mississippi Burning" or "Cry Freedom."

In contrast, D.W. Griffith's film, "The Birth of a Nation," was released in 1915. The film is said to have inspired the formation of the second-era Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain, Ga., that year. "The Birth of a Nation" was used as a recruiting tool for the KKK. Democratic President Woodrow Wilson screened it at the White House.

Historian Steven Mintz, while at the University of Houston, summarized the film, pointing out that "Reconstruction was a disaster. Blacks could never be integrated into white society as equals, and the violent actions of the Ku Klux Klan were justified to re-establish honest government. The South is portrayed as a victim."

For nearly 100 years, "The Birth of a Nation" has been held out as an execrable example of a movie-maker twisting history to reflect his own racist biases. Even in my political science courses at Moravian College in the early 1970s, Griffith's film was cited as stark evidence of America's shameful history of racism.

It is ironic, then, that DuVernay seems to have been given a free pass to rewrite a small, but extremely important, piece of American history. Her desire to avoid making a "white hero" movie is implicitly deemed to be a socially acceptable justification for her actions. In short, DuVernay in some respects is copying the tactics of D.W. Griffith.

Sadly, my liberal friends have been quite selective about their movie choices this year. Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL, was the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 probable kills. He served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat. He received two Silver Star Medals, five Bronze Star Medals, one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

Terrorists in Iraq dubbed him the "Devil of Ramadi" and placed a number of bounties on his head. A film adaptation of Kyle's autobiography, "American Sniper," directed by Clint Eastwood, has earned more than $306 million since being released in December. It is appalling that Kyle, who was killed in 2013, has been referred to in some quarters as a "murderer."

Times must be changing. I was brought up to believe that decorated sharpshooters such as Alvin York in World War I and Audie Murphy in World War II were American heroes who should be looked up to and admired. Soldiers are sent in to clean up the messes created by politicians. In my mind, Chris Kyle was killing the bad guys before they killed our soldiers. It's that simple. It's appropriate to quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade": "Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die."

Liberals are shocked at "Selma" being snubbed for Oscar nominations — the movie received only two — and they are shocked at the box office success of "American Sniper." Given this new standard of political correctness, it is no wonder that my beloved Democratic Party got its collective clock cleaned last November.

Donald P. Russo, who lives in Bethlehem Township, has his law office in Palmer Township.